Latino Rebranded: Social Media and Latinos

Subtitle: The Why of it All

Without definition, one is left to be interpreted and thus defined by others.  More so, without definition one has no purpose and drifts to the will of the tides.

I’m going to briefly point out some things I have my sights on within the realm of social media.  I encourage you to do the same from time to time going forward.

In no special order here are some goals which have been set in motion and are continually honed:

• Give Latinos a pipeline to catapult their voices into the national conversation via social media.

• Engage influencers in multiple disciplines.

• Facilitate solidarity and communication within Latino community.

• Build Brand (Rebranded) “Me.”

• Communicate with like-minded people.

There’s much more to discuss for each point, but I’ve kept it brief for the sake of the blog and will pick up this discussion at another point in time.

If you have something you want to add, or think I’ve missed a critical point, please leave your thoughts in the comment section.

I’m also curious to know what YOUR purpose is?  Is it product or service awareness?  A grassroots endeavor?  Network with peers?  Keep abreast on the latest trends?  Become the next social media rockstar?

Subtitle: A few bad apples spoil the bunch.

The Mexican government is up in arms against ‘Twitteros’ who use Twitter that warn others against drunk driving checkpoints – “alcoholimetro.”  But what really has those on the good side of the law angered is the blatant use of social networks by drug traffickers and other criminals.  Thus the “Spanish Bill.”

You decide: Is this a fair case to relinquish free speech for the greater cause of justice?

Yesterday, I posted a piece on Social Media Literacy (SML) and talked about how to identify some characteristics of an ill intentioned communication in social media. 

Some of the examples listed showed how others may try to take advantage of your account on Twitter. Complimenting yesterday’s post, I found a great article that talks about how an insider exploited Facebook to gather information on unsuspecting users – and I’ve seen those ads!

So, go ahead and take a look at that article it’s full of a lot of information…and…WYB!!!

Subtitle: WYB – Watch Your Back in social media!!!

As netizens connect and grow, so do more unsavory individuals look to take advantage of those communications.

Having a background in technology, I’ve seen many cases of users unknowingly causing computer problems which easily could of been prevented if they new more about the computer environment.

With this in mind, imagine what can happen to an individual who unknowing falls prey to a computer virus or a phishing attempt, that could of been prevented if the knowledge of the characteristics of such attacks could of been recognized.

Social Media Literacy (SML), permits us to identify such threats.

SML goes beyond the knowledge of  pushing your content through different social media channels; it involves the critique of received media.  If media literacy broadly applies to digital media,  then SML would be specific to social media platforms.

Tips

Here are some suggestions for Twitter:

- If you see many of your friends sharing the same strange new Twitter icon, or tweeting the same strange message, it’s probably a hoax, or they’ve already fell victim to one.

- Be weary of tweets that contain news or calls to action, without having links.  This may be a prank/hoax, and the joke may be on you.

Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!

- If tweet contains all CAPS or multiple symbols, take heed!

- “Think before you click.”  Is this too good to be true?  Do you know the user?

- Mouseover the link and make sure you can verify the link (enable status bar in most web browsers).  If you can’t see it, or the link looks like bad news (IP number, instead of URL), the WYB!

- Does the persons tweets have a lot of links in many of them?  They have an incessant need to get you somewhere.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used the ‘block’ feature on Twitter.  This is because, I spend so much time on the internet that I’ve developed a heightened awareness of what looks right and what looks suspect, so I don’t spend too much time blocking people from my feed…I just unfriend them.

If someone is trying to take advantage of others, and you want to take the extra step then, submit their name to Twitter Help for investigation.

Has anyone experienced, or have more suggestions for Twitter or any other site?

AOL just release their Hispanic Cyberstudy, packed with the habits of Hispanics online.  The study is based on a question – Why and how are Hispanics using the internet in their daily lives?

For years, marketers have struggled with the complexities of the Hispanic market. Given the blistering growth of their population and subsequent rise in purchasing power, AOL wants to help marketers and agencies understand the changing Hispanic market, and improve their advertising performance with this segment.

Not widely known are that Hispanics online are very different from the general Hispanic population.  They are so different in fact, that personally I use the term Latino to differentiate the online counterparts.

Online vs. Offline

Online, 46% of Hispanics prefer English media and speak it at home, compared to only 23% Spanish language dominant.  Interestingly, offline this fact is reversed – 52% prefer Spanish, and 28% are English dominant.  This shows us that the  majority of Latinos online are well acculturated, young and early adapters.

Online Hispanic households are much younger than the general population.  Almost half are under 35 years old, compared with only 28% across the nation.

Hispanic-Fluential

One fifth of the Hispanic online population are exceedingly influential and are termed as Power Users.  They share maven-like characteristics and are the sweethearts if not the key-holders to the Hispanic online population.

They spend over 24 hours online per week, half of that time connected via mobile device.  They are highly innovative, thus are early adapters.

These are the influential leaders in their respective category , that shape and direct what is hot and what’s not.  They are what my friend Lori Gama talks about as Hispanic-fluentials.

Online Hispanics, prefer it in English

Marketers – even Hispanics! – have a misconception that in order to reach Hispanics online one must do it in Spanish.  However, the opposite is true.

As much as Hispanics themselves would like to see more Spanish online, truth is the audience is a yet a smaller subcategory of the already mulit-faceted Spanish population.  Brands as well need to note this.

Mi Gente

Studies like this give me pause to reflect not only on social media/marketing, but society.  If you look below the surface marketing is 100% about business – it’s about people and what is going on in our culture.

Beyond buying and selling, you can appreciate the subtle cultural dynamics.  Once a shrug of the shoulder, the Hispanics market is hitting the industry with a sledge hammer.

Salsa outsells ketchup. In some places in the US, Hispanics are the dominant population.  Yes, these types of  trends will continue, but behind the numbers is a vibrant culture filled with smiles, laughter, celebration – culture.  Let’s not forget that…

Subtitle:  Upward and Cross Connections

As you may know, my roots are in the blogsophere, so it’s great to see continuing progression.  Latino blogs moving in upper and cross-lateral directions is great stuff.

BlogWorld 2009 had the innovative idea of hosting a multicultural panel.  A clear sign of vision and pulse of the current situation in the U.S.A.  I had the honor to be invited by Jose Villa from Sensis to represent the fastest growing group both online and offline: The Latino(a)s!

Subtitle:  Media devours youth.

Sometimes studies confirm what we all already know.  As you can tell, I wasn’t surprised by much of the information below, but I know it’s newsworthy for some.

A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows a “dramatic” rise in the amount of time children and teens spend using entertainment media, “especially among minority youth.” [...] Hispanics and blacks average about 13 hours of media exposure daily compared to just over eight and half hours among whites.

The study is an interesting one, as it breaks down texting, social media, TV, books and more.

What I like about this report is a small portion of added value:  Of course not all use of social media can be lumped as entertainment or recreational. It’s also about communicating and–at times–can be a valuable part of young people’s education and development.

Amen.

It’s that time of year again, Feb 1st – 5th:  Social media week.

Subtitle: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

I have a social media footprint on several sites.  In addition to this blog, the main three social media silos are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Depending on the project, I may be more active on one than the other on a rotating basis.

There are other social media outposts that I update fairly regularly, but are not too actively engaged…they serve as beacons which point to the areas of my most activity – time management plays a big part here.

This same strategy is followed on where I put my energy.  I have been blamed many times for taking on one to many projects, but in the end I’m concentrating on one or two, and dropping what does not work.

UPDATE: Ah, I just read Chris Brogan’s “Outposts” piece…he talks exactly about the above.

Subtitle:  Here And Now, There And Later

Not writing on my blog, is like not being at home for an extended period of time.  It’s not like I have not been busy though.  Here’s what I’ve been occupied with:

Networking:  I hope many of you are not undervaluing meeting people in ‘real-life.’  I’ve been busy adding more influential people to my address book and have been going out and shaking their hands to solidify the relationship.

Planning: Success is a continuous cycle of striving to reach goals, constantly readjusting to meet those goals, and formulating new direction.  If you’re social media plan is the same as it was a month or two ago, then you need a serious re-evaluation in order to reach new heights – nothing remains static.

Entrepreneurship: With Phase I of my social media plan done (more on that later), I’ve been concentrating on developing more business related agendas.  On the plate is a new business product which I’m partnering with my wife (she’s such a creative soul) on.  Another area is the ongoing development of the business side of  social media (forgive me for being vague, but that’s best for now).

As you can see, I’ve been busy.  A promise to you, is that I’m recommitting myself to the blog with more updates on the market in general as well as what I’m up to…hope to see you around.